OFF THE RECORD (Spotlight Weekly)

"I Will Hold Elections Impartially"

— MUKUNDA REGMI

Senior advocate Mukunda Regmi, Election Commissioner of Nepali Congress, has suddenly become mired in controversy, following the resignation of two of his members. Regmi spoke to SPOTLIGHT on various issues related to the Congress organizational elections, and the controversy surrounding him.

How do you view the resignation of two members from the committee?

It was an unfortunate decision made by these two Congress members. Such decisions will send the wrong signal to the public and tarnish the image of the party.

Did you make any efforts to convince them not to leave?

Yes. I made every effort to convince them that I would try to accomodate their wishes, but they were not willing to listen.

How do you assure rivals in the party that you will hold an impartial election?

I don't need to take sides because this is just an organizational election for the party. Moreover I am a committed Congress worker.

But the opponents are complaining that there was massive fraud in the distribution of the active membership earlier this year?

It does not fall under my jurisdiction to investigate this matter. My duty is simply to hold the election within the mandate given by the party. There are many ways to register complaints about the distribution of active membership. I don't see any reason why they should have resigned. If the party leaders do not trust their own leader's ability to hold a free and fair election, how can we expect the opposition party to believe us?

What decisions have you made since the formation of the commission?

We have already set the deadline for the organizational elections. It will begin next week. Following the grass root level organization,I will conduct the central level election next month.

Jocular Ministers

Whether he or she is young or old, Nepal Congress Leaders have one things in common: a rather indiscriminate sense of humour. From former Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, to young leader and minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation,Tarni Dutta Chataut, Nepal Congress Leaders seem to enjoy making jokes. From serious issues, like the bird problem at Tribhuvan Airport, to parliamentary debate, it's all up for fun. Even though the rest of the world saw the bird-plane incidents at Tribhuwan International Airport as being very serious, and very dangerous, Nepal's minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Chataut, seemed to regard it as funny. Instead of giving orders to fix the problem, minister Chataut responded by laughing whenever his assistant told him about the bird-plane collisions. His solution was to order his colleagues to pray with lord Pashupatinath to kill all birds.

Small Party Big Role

The leaders of CPN-UML and CPN-ML are in a race to prove who are the genuine communists. Both parties are trying to woo small communist factions to their side. Although small leftist parties do not have much money, or many workers, the competition between the two major communist factions is beneficial to them all . For the first time in three years after the split of CPN-UML, four small leftist groups broke alliance with CPN-ML. Although the decision of the four communist factions do not make a tangible difference to CPN-UMLís strength, it changes the status of the party from revisionist to revolunationary. This is one of the charms small communist factions always have in Nepalese politics.

Another Debacle

Nir Shaha, one of Nepal's most famous actors, has been attracting audiences to movies for 25 years. However, his own productions do not fair so well. Even his latest movie, Bashanti, which is based on Nepalese history, played to half empty theatres . Even with so many flops, Shaha's quest to win the hearts of Nepali film-goers continues. When will it be Shaha's turn for success as a producer?

Hopeful Venture

At a time when the big screen is facing big trouble, renowned small screen anchor, Bhusan Dahal has started a two hour morning program on Nepal Television, through his own Duvyadristi International - a new entertainment venture. Dahal, who popularized Image Channelís morning show, must now prove that his company can produce a better program. Hopefully, Doha' s experience on the small screen will not parallel Shaha's on the big one.